It is very usual to see masseurs/euses carrying out massages on professional sportsmen/women in order to avoid muscle injuries when the latter have to make a prolonged effort.
A massage of this type consists in holding the legs by the ankles and moving the legs energetically together and apart, in such a way that the muscles move and relax.
This technique has the disadvantage of being excessively tiring, so that it can only be carried out by a person for a relatively short period of time.
FR2632867 discloses a versatile device which makes it possible, on the one hand, to carry out a scissor movements of the legs and, on the other hand, as a complement, a to-and-fro movement. The device comprises a support platform provided with elevation means supporting another platform equipped with means for fastening sideways guiding slides on which pivoting heelpieces are fastened. Each slide-heelpiece assembly is coupled via connecting rods to at least one gear-motor group located between slideways so that the slides driven by the gear-motor group, causes the closing together and separation of the legs in an horizontal or inclined plane, upwards or downwards.
U.S. Patent No. 4,711,229 discloses a massaging apparatus for the lower extremities of the body, comprising means to produce a massaging perpendicular to the axis of the legs in a radial and oscillating motion, i.e. to induce an oscillation corresponding to the arc of a circle, and longitudinally to the axis of the legs.